thinking about renting a dozer.....

[MadReferee]

I agree with Dargo. Get a high lift crawler loader. Better yet, get one with a 4 in 1 bucket then you have the best of both worlds.

I picked this one up to clear land and move dirt. Works quite well and can be had for around $5000 when you can find them.

Buy one, do the work yourself, then sell it for what you paid for it.

 

[JimMorrissey]

**I looked at the land today and got out the plans. Looks like I can work from the short end and push down about 220'. Some of the piles from the foundation will be half of that, so the dozer is looking better and better. I do agree that a large blade full of dirt pushed 500' would be a bit light when I reached the end of the line.

Anyway, I don't have a 450hp tractor with a pan. I do have all weekend to move the dirt and level the land a bit, and I do have access to a relatively cheap rental dozer AND I'm looking forward to using one. If I could move that much dirt in 4 hours I'd be more than pleased. The land slopes gently and consists mainly of topsoil. Maybe I'll look for a larger machine with a more cup like blade, instead of a simple curved blade. I don't know about where you come from but they don't rent tandems. Also, it would sink up to its axles in the dirt on this property loaded or not.

I watched my neighbor level our last buiding project with a small/medium sized Dresser with ease. It was just under 300 feet at the longest point. Was it the absolute most efficient way to do the job, probably not, but that's what he had and at the end of one day the job was done and I was happy with the results.

I'll post some pics of the situation when the time comes.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Yeah a huge scraper would be a blast, but that's not in the cards.

I have more to do than just "move dirt". Certainly that will be a big part of it, but I'll be pushing dirt here and there for a variety of distances. That wasn't what my post was about. My question was....well, if anybody is interested in the original question it's avaiable for to read before they reply.

Thanks for all the responses. I'm all set.

 

[BarryinMN]

Your going to have a blast nothing like a dozer to change the face of your property.

Might consider cutting the topsoil first & pushing off to side then moving the subsoil where it needs to go.

Don't limit your ideas -- how about road improvements breaking trails, parking areas, etc?? Fill the weekend!

My dozer has a 1 yard 6 way blade but if a pile has sat awhile & is firm it will push 3-4 yards before losing traction.

Pix of a little yard ornament dug up by tlb.

 

[BarryinMN]

Front view est weight around 5-7000 lbs.

 

[JimMorrissey]

/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif Thanks for the pics Barry. Wish I owned one. Renting for the weekend will be fun.

 

[dent8]

Hi BarryinMN, I've been reading around here a while, you've roped me in, and my first question is kind of tacky, but about how much do you value your dozer at? My family recently bought a property including an old IH 3444 and the seller also has a dozer much like yours he'd be happy to sell us. His starting point is 7k. A little high? There are not that many projects where I anticipate major changes to the face of the property and I think those could mostly be done a little less efficiently with the loader/scraper, but it sure is a sweet little dozer.
Thank you to everyone here for all the info I've already culled, nice group, nice site.
Dennis

 

[MadReferee]

If you want to know anything about the IH go to the Red Power IH crawler board. Those guys know everything there is to know about IH crawlers and they are friendly to boot.

Red Power IH Crawler forum

 

[BarryinMN]

I bought mine from a farmer as well. Be sure you get all spares, extras and miscellaneous stuff he took off it.

Gave $10k for mine refurbished including a QT #93 backhoe 36" bucket, extra power reverser, engine, radiator, large loader cylinders, boxes of bearings gaskets etc.

It makes a excellent stable platform plowing on sidehills, chain a tree to drawbar before cutting.

I had never operated a crawler before buying it, 2-3 mins around the sellers yard. He drove it up on my trailer.

Got it home drove off the trailer, dropped the hoe & spent the next several hours in the woods re-opening a trail in my woods overgrown with saplings.

The bracket over the dozer seat in pix is the bh seat frame flipped up.

There are web sites by brand for crawlers to get machine specifics & values.

ytmag.com - crawlers
jdcrawlers.com
(somewhere)acmog.org cat group good for operating techniques advice

Fun to send a new kid over to check the tire pressure on the dozer once /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dent8]

Ah, didn't see the backhoe, so I guess he's in the neighborhood though it appears well worn. Thanks for the info, I'll be around with more questions on the tractor later.
Thanks,
Dennis